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Windows 10 and "The Grand Illusion" as seen from 2020
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A few days ago, I started thinking about all the hype surrounding the release of Windows 10, and I realized that Windows 7's extended support doesn't end for another five years in 2020. In a Fellini-esque flashback moment, I thought of the same hype, pomp, and circumstance that swirled around the launch of Windows 8 a few years ago. Still unimpressed with Microsoft's latest efforts, I, like many, will remain loyal to Windows 7 for a few more years, but not without reservations.
You see, I'm as much a victim of the great marketing machine as anyone else. I watch, with anticipation, the announcements and the press releases for new products. Marketing people are clever at making me want that new thing that seems just within reach – for a price, of course. But every time I get a little too excited about a new-fangled doodad, I think back to my younger days when people still listened to music on turntables, and not ironically, but because that was what we had. There was a popular album by Styx titled, The Grand Illusion, which included the song of the same name.
A sample of its wisdom-laden lyrics:
"But don't be fooled by the radio
The TV or the magazines
They'll show you photographs of how your life should be
But they're just someone else's fantasies
So if you think your life is complete confusion
'Cause you never win the game
Just remember that it's a grand illusion."
It's the job of all companies to produce the next big thing that you must have, because having it will make you happy, or thin, or smart, or something that's just beyond your reach. Do you get the grand illusion? Marketing types put products within our grasps and promise us that which is just beyond our reach – well, beyond our reach without said product, that is.
Windows 10 is that grand illusion for me. It's as if Microsoft is saying to us, "Yes, we know that XP was great, Vista was not, Windows 7 is awesome, 8 not
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